Pressman Game for Kong, Zathura, Fantastic

Game manufacturer Pressman Toy is developing officially licensed games and puzzles based on the upcoming fantasy features King Kong (Universal), Zathura (Columbia) and Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox/Marvel). The games will debut at the American Int’l Toy Fair, held Feb. 20-23 in New York City.

While Pressman, founded in 1922, has a history of licensing popular film, television and comic book properties for games and puzzles, the company has never before had products based on properties with such blockbuster potential.

Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong stomps into theaters this December, along with stars Adrian Brody (The Pianist, The Village), Naomi Watts (The Ring, Mulholland Drive) and Jack Black (School of Rock, Orange County). Weta, the Oscar-winning New Zealand-based vfx studio that helped realize Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, is providing the title CG ape and other fantastic visuals.

Coming to theaters in November, Zathura is based on the best-selling children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, the award-winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express. The story revolves around two brothers who discover a vintage board game that launches them into outer-space. On board to direct is Jon Favreau (Elf, Swingers), while exec producer duties are handled by Ted Field (Jumanji, The Last Samurai).

Fantastic Four is based on the classic Marvel comic-book franchise that has four astronauts transformed into superheroes by cosmic rays. Slated for a July bow, the film stars Michael Chiklis (The Shield) as Ben "The Thing" Grimm and Jessica Alba (Dark Angel) as Sue Storm.

One of the first companies in the industry to begin licensing popular characters and content for toys and games, Pressman has created products based on Scooby-Doo, The Simpsons, Spider-Man and other Marvel characters, as well as the TV game shows Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and Wheel of Fortune. More information can be found at www.pressmantoy.com.